1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to handling implements and particularly to hand tools for picking up laminar items.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A time consuming and unpleasant part of reshingling a roof is picking up the old shingles which usually are ripped off and thrown down in a random pile on the ground as the new shingles are laid. The shingles pile up in an interleaved jumble and cannot be readily disentangled by conventional implements. Consequently, the shingles usually must be picked up laboriously by hand, a task which is hard on the back and potentially injurious because of the rusty nails remaining in the shingles.
Although various grappling tools have been developed for special purposes, to the applicant's knowledge there is no tool that is particularly adapted to picking up shingles or other laminar items from a random pile. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 884,887 of R. H. Beckwith discloses a bean puller having two pivotally connected handles, each with a curved plate attached to a lower end. One plate has a sharpened angled lower edge and the other plate has two spaced rows of teeth parallel to the angled edge of the first plate.
In U.S. Pat. No. 283,282 of A. Rogers a post hole digger is described as combining a conventional straight spade with a shovel pivoted to the handle of the spade. Another similar grappling arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 774,293 of T. H. Tregellas for a weed puller. Each of these prior art implements includes features that particularly adapt the tool to performing the intended function, but these same features make the tools awkward and difficult to use as implements for picking up shingles or other laminar items.